Like me, many other Iranians participated in the 1979 revolution without fully understanding the endgame or the nature of the forces that propelled it forward. The result of that blind participation was that people’s dream of a secular democracy turned into an oppressive theological nightmare.

It was not the decision to decertify the Iran’s nuclear deal that has left most ordinary Iranians incensed but the US President’s misnaming of the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. Many Iranians have taken to the social media to express their rage and disappointment at the President’s failure to refer to the Persian Gulf by its proper name.

Maybe, the real problem is that privileged Young Nats have bought into the myth of meritocracy, believing that they own their successes and, by extension, the poor should own their failures.

This cruel point of view completely disregards the cognitive ability and the circumstances that people are born into and the fact that most children born poor will remain poor and most people born rich will remain rich.

Seven years on, Environment Canterbury (Ecan) is yet to return to full democracy but surely its chief executive Bill Bayfield can at least pretend democracy matters by not rejecting an artistic expression of a legitimate protest.

My friend and I cast our votes for the Iranian Presidential Election in Christchurch last Friday knowing full well the election was effectively rigged in advance by unelected clerics who had decided who could and couldn’t run.

This week New Zealand Commerce Commission released its final decision to refuse the proposed merger of two of the countries biggest newspaper networks: NZME and Fairfax. This is a decision worth celebrating, as the proposed merger would have seriously weakened an already diluted quality of news and diversity of voices in New Zealand media.

Gareth Morgan’s knees are hurting. I can tell because he keeps bending down to rub them- and it is no wonder, he has been on his feet since 4pm and it is close to 9pm before he gets a chance to sit down and sink his teeth into a burger at Christchurch’s Smash Palace. Morgan is here as part of a roadshow to win hearts and minds- well maybe just minds, as he does not seem to do the hearts bit very well.

On Monday night, clad in a traditional Palestinian dress, which was presented to her by a Palestinian woman, Green MP Marama Davidson addressed a packed audience at Workers’ Educational Association in Christchurch.

A group of more than 30 editors who penned a letter against the commerce commission’s draft decision to reject the merger between Fairfax and NZME, proved how easily commercial concerns could cloud sound journalistic judgment.

Anyone who is surprised by the result of the recent US presidential election should take a close look at WrestleMania, an annual sport entertainment event created by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The show’s content and its format explain a lot about Trump’s triumph in the US presidential election.